Rochester rings in the holiday season as 2k attendees enjoy the parade

By Samantha Allen

sallen@fosters.com

fosters.com

By Samantha Allen

sallen@fosters.com

Posted Dec. 3, 2012 at 3:15 AM
Updated Dec 4, 2012 at 2:00 PM

By Samantha Allen

sallen@fosters.com

Posted Dec. 3, 2012 at 3:15 AM
Updated Dec 4, 2012 at 2:00 PM

ROCHESTER — With heavy fog and rainy weather heading through the Lilac City, the downtown area was still decked out in full Christmas garb, with dozens of floats, vehicles and participants for the annual holiday parade.

The Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce holiday parade started at Spaulding High School Sunday afternoon and moved down to Rochester Common. The event was underwritten by Profile Bank and had approximately 2,000 attendees.

Mercedes Wetherbee, 10, a fourth grader at the William Allen School, was among dozens of children who lined the downtown area before floats passed through. She stood and watched near Rochester Fire Department trucks with extended ladders that hung a large American flag near the town's recently lit Christmas tree, to mark the budding season.

“I want to see Santa,” Wetherbee said, when asked what brought her to the parade.

City officials, along with the Rochester fire and police departments, started off the parade with many of the department workers' children walking alongside them.

Nine-year-old Mariah Lynch, of Rochester, sat on the back of a parked vehicle with several of her neighborhood friends to watch the festivities.

“I like to see all of the different people,” she said, sitting close to her brother Zachary, 6, and neighbor Evan Hughes, 10, who said he was looking forward to catching some free candy.

Winners of the parade's float competition in the community category included the Girl Scouts of Salmon Falls Community, with first place, followed by the William Allen School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in second and the Maple Street Magnet School in third. Local Girl Scouts paraded through as characters from Dr. Seuss' Who-Ville while William Allen students rode in on the “mystery machine,” a wooden vehicle that read on the back, “We would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling William Allen kids.”

In the organizational category, Sole City Dance took the first place award, followed by Journey Baptist Church and then the Free Masons Humane Lodge #21. In the commercial category, Cornerstone VNA came in first place for their float, followed by Metrocast and then Lowe's.

Performing musical acts included the marching bands from Spaulding High School as well as Dover, Somersworth and Wells, Maine. The Hibernian Manchester Pipes and Drums group also performed.

The event concluded with a float by the Dover Fire and Rescue Department, featuring the one-and-only Santa Claus and his many reindeer. Several area fire departments followed close behind in various fire trucks with flashing red lights. Foster's video/Samantha Allen